From Uche Usim, Abuja
With gas as Nigeria’s transition fuel, the Federal Government has entered into talks with the Spanish government to galvanise investments in the petroleum sector leveraging on opportunities created by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, while hosting a delegation from Spain led by its Foreign Affairs Minister, Jose Manuel Albares, described his country as one of the biggest business partners of Nigeria. He stated that Spain has been a major partner of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) since its establishment.
He said: The Spanish Minister came early and it’s one of our first foreign ministers to visit us this year and the benefits are enormous.
“Oil and gas is at core of our economy. The Minister’s visit is good and it signals the inflow of investments. It’s more of diplomatic economic visit than political.
“As a country, we are focused on gas development since we have a lot of gas resources. 200trillion cubic feet of gas and with the right investments, we can move it to 600tcf.
“Spain is who we are looking at bringing this investment. We have Security challenge and Spanish can support us in there even in investment too”.
In his remarks, the Spanish delegation leader said that Nigeria was its second biggest partner in the world.
“Nigeria is a trustworthy partner and we thank the Minister for unveiling investment opportunities in the oil and gas sector. We want to deepen bilateral relationship in energy and other areas”, he said.
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